AP Psychology

• empiricism


  the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation

  
• structuralism


  an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind

  
• functionalism


  an early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function-how they enable the organism to adapt, survive and flourish

  
• nature-nurture issue


  the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today's science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and nurture

  
• natural selection


  the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival with most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

  
• psychometrics


  the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits

  
• basic research


  pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

  
• applied research


  scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

  
• industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology


  the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces

  
• human factors psychology


  the study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and easily used machines and environments

  
• counseling psychology


  a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being

  
• clinical psychology


  a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

  
• psychiatry


  a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who often provide medical treatments as well as psychological therapy

  
• Wilhelm Wundt


  started the first experimental psychology lab; structuralism

  
• Edward Titchener


  William Wundt's student; founder of early field of psychology known as Structuralism

  
• William James


  Founder of early field of psychology known as functionalism; wrote first psychology textbook The Principles of Psychology

  
• Intuition


  an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, also known as a gut feeling or a hunch.

  
• Hindsight Bias


  the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it... (I knew it along phenomenon)

  
• illusory correlation


  expected or suspected relationship between variables where non actually exists.

  
• Theory


  an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events

  
• Hypothesis


  A testable prediction that is often implied by a theory ("If___then_____")

  
• operational definition


  A clear and detailed statement about how exactly data collected from the variables will be measured; allows for accurate replication

  
• Replication


  repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic findings are valid

  
• case study


  a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

  
• naturalistic observation


  a descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

  
• survey

  a descriptive technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group

  
• Introspection


  the process of looking inward in an attempt to directly observe one's own psychological processes

  
• sampling bias


  a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample; cannot be generalized to a population

  
• Population


  all those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn

  
• random sample


  a sample that fairly represents a population because each member of a target population has an equal chance of inclusion

  
• Correlation


  A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other;- often shown by naturalistic observation or surveys.

  
• correlation coefficient


  a statistical measure of the strength and direction of a relationship between two things (from -1.00 to +1.00)

  
• Variable


  anything that can vary and is feasible and ethical to measure; correlation looks at the relationship between variables

  
• Scatterplot


  a graphed cluster of dots, (which represent variables) that shows the strength and direction of relationships between variables

  
• regression towards the mean


  the tendency for extreme or unusual scores to events to fall back (regress) toward the average.

  
• experiment


  a research method in which variables are manipulated (independent variables) to observe the effect of the manipulation (the dependent variables); Only way to determine cause and effect

  
• experimental group


  In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, (to one version of the independent variable)

  
• control group


  In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

  
• random assignment


  assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between groups (equalizes groups)

  
• double-blind procedure


  an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies.